J&J and Novartis first results from rebuilding

Novartis spent $51 billion in Alcon to add $1.9 billion sales in the current 2011 quarter, J&J managed to improve earnings to close to $3.77 billion excluding litigation costs to $1.35 per share while counterbalancing its medical device revenues of $2 billion with a pitch for Synthes. Core Earnings at Novartis were up to $1.41 per share despite sales lowerby $1.1 billion in anti-flu sales and more expected in reducing Diovan 

Constant currency sales at Novartis topped $14 billion and J&J sales topped $16.1 billion. International sales were mostly responsible for the J&J recovery at 7% up tick

PE sector is quite abuzz in India

Updates from VCCircle home page show a smattering of PE activity to be proud of:

1. After $100 million in Tikona digital and the debate on WIMAX vs "that other" winning Tech, GS Capital surfaced in Axis Bank, Max Insurance and now Muthoot deals
   
2. Camlin in the retail lifestyle/education segments makers of scholastic instrument boxes for shool going kids and color markers etc seem to be in the right corner for maximising the premium on their purchase
   
3. Everstone joins SBI and IDFC in tying up billion plus in india deals (Pan India restaurants, Percept, Centrum, Regen, Nashik Vintners) and given the MD ticket to its Real estate and leasing guys
   
4. Ex Chrys Cap lead Ashish dhawan has followed his heart into Lakshmi foods, while WBCP promoters who exited the sold goods and restarted are looking a t listed ops according to media reports
   
5. Meanwhile the Sardaars at SRL have also handed over their personal stakes to Fortis, free in pocket and spirit for the next deal
   

 

Muthoot Finance has raised about Rs 130 crore from 11 cornerstone investors.

Is Camlin Close To A Strategic Sale?

SHRIJA AGRAWAL

The scrip has spurted over the few weeks, moving from Rs 46 at the end of March, 2011 to around Rs 76-Rs 77 currently.

Everstone Undertakes Massive Organisational Rejig; Promotes 9 To MDs

SHRIJA AGRAWAL

This rejig in the team comes close to Everstone Capital raising its second fund at $550 million.

Ashish Dhawan Bags Stake In Lakshmi Energy & Foods

PALLAVI S

ChrysCapital's founder and chief has acquired 0.5 per cent stake for Rs 1.7 crore and may stock up more shares.

Fortis Board Okays 86% Stake Buy In Super Religare Labs

PALLAVI S

The Singh brothers are selling a privately held business to a listed group firm without letting off management control.

 

GMR Infra (Power) Update

Stanc old lane and ballas to invest in Jacob gmr airports

Power cap to go 5 fold from 835mw

India's 11^th down to 52GW ending in 2012 after 12 in 2010-11 and even 17+ in 2011-12

Intergen sold for 1.1 billion plus earned 75 m in dividends said to have bought 300 m equity additionally since 2005 and all debt of 1 is paid

Mergers got ahead of the real folks gone under - ho ho ho

The Reuters bangalore team, recently helped this story on the pharma majors' mergers

 

U.S. securities regulators are investigating at least nine mergers, including Pfizer Inc's takeover of Wyeth and Merck & Co Inc's acquisition of Schering-Plough Corp, for possible insider-trading violations, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is probing whether deal advisers and traders illegally shared confidential information, the paper said, noting that the agency had sent out about three dozen subpoenas to hedge funds and brokerages.

It was looking at other pharmaceutical deals including Abbott Laboratories Inc's acquisition of Advanced Medical Optics and Eli Lilly & Co's buyout of ImClone Systems, the paper reported.

The Journal also said the SEC is asking questions about trading around retailer Best Buy Co Inc's 2008 acquisition of Napster Inc, investment firm Triarc Cos' acquisition of Wendy's International Inc and Ansys Inc's takeover of Ansoft Corp.

It was not clear whether the subpoenas were related to the insider-trading case unveiled in October involving New York hedge fund Galleon Group, the paper said.

The Journal said some of the recent subpoenas focus on specifics of investment bankers' involvement in deals, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc bankers' roles in roughly a dozen health-care transactions since 2006.

Goldman was an adviser to Schering-Plough and Pfizer, according to filings cited by the Journal.

"Goldman Sachs has robust policies and procedures in place to detect suspicious trading activity. If we detect suspicious activity of any kind, as required by law, we report it to the appropriate authorities," a company spokesman told the paper.

The Journal said representatives for Eli Lilly, Napster and Wendy's/Arby's Group declined to comment and that a spokesman for JER Partners said the firm cooperated with an SEC inquiry involving the Genesis HealthCare deal in 2007, but JER Partners has not heard from the SEC this year. He told the paper Genesis executives were contacted by the SEC this year, but it was not clear whether that inquiry was connected to the recent subpoenas.

(NO EDGAR REPORTS, JUST THE VERB FROM REU

 

via Reuters SEC report

 

Whether PE can make it to the organised healthcare sector

New PE continues to trickle into 2011 in India. Since Jan almost $3 bln of PE funds have come with a lot of new promoter institutions going for PE funds . However a look at bank credit commentary shows infrastructure and construction lending tapering off and also making it unlikely that 15-30 year funding for infrastructure will be lent an easy hand at the equity markets. On the other hand, the $26 bln outgo in Emerging Market Equities in Q1 2011 has been replaced by $10 bln i n inflows in just the last 3 weeks oin ETFs and almost $3 bln in India portfolio flows invested thence

While a lot of new funds are looking to cement deals for their parked funds in infrastructure and retail lifestyle expansion plays India gets particular attention in both inward investment and outgoing M&A in Pharma and Healthcare. Both markets in drugs and in health insurance are underserved inside the country and the talent and local promoters' cash makes it easy for outward expansion in Korea, Africa or othernook s and crannies which allow that particular deal size and business benefit that Indian promoted diaspora can bring. Banks are unlikely to suffer NIM reactions from increasing deposits but Corporate lending and fee based lines are likely to get added emphasis here as well. Sectorally, Heatlthcare and Big Pharma flows (Vaccination, Generics, thru Joint marketing with Sun, Biocon) have to use this small window in the initial phases of the next bull run to announce and cultivate larger deals. Whether PE and SWF cash will be able to do the required due diligence is however suspect as this sector is nefariously overpriced in corporate advisory deals etc.

Amylin setback gets retail health deals

Amylin loses the plot

Image viaWikipediaByetta producer and Eli Lily partner suffered a drop in its byetta sales , lower by $150 mn for Q3 as its new version of the Byetta regimen, Bydureon was rejected by the FDA for possible Cardiac complications. For FDA it might even have been a simpler case of making a public monkey out of Amylin after Avandia and Glaxo Smithkline was destroyed because of inadequate disclosure on its Cardiac side effects and a recall spanning a loss of $198 mln in September 2010.

Even as diabetes medication comes under the scanner and Pfizer goes ahead with a new sign up with India's Biocon, pecuniary FDA action seems to have triggered an interesting deal mania intth e industry wih Eli Lily rumored to be in the running for using its $5.6 billion in cash to buy up Amylin which is 33% cheaper at $2.5 bln this week or other such niche producers with a pipeline of promising new molecules in its belt.

Related articles

• Amylin, Alkermes crushed by FDA rejection(marketwatch.com)
• Amylin Craters After FDA Asks For More Info On Diabetes Drug (forbes.com)
• Lilly Diabetes Setbacks May Spur Shopping Past Amylin(businessweek.com)

The Retail Lifestyle jump

Nestle and Unilever grow fangs to track up that mole called P&G and that sector of Coke Pepsi and McDonalds

European shares edged higher on Thursday, as Nestle's sales figures gave food producers a lift, offsetting weakness for banking group Credit Suisse and engineering group ABB as earnings news dominated sentiment.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index (ST:SXXP 268.56, -1.20, -0.44%) rose 0.3% to 269.14, after closing down 0.6% on Wednesday, in part as investors fretted about a possible fresh round of taxation for the banking sector.

Earnings
• Nestle sales climb over 4%, topping estimates
• ABB's shares fall as net profit drops 29%
• Credit Suisse profit edges up, inflows improve
Banks continued to drag on Thursday, with Credit Suisse (CH:CSGN 52.55, -1.80, -3.31%) (CS 50.73, -0.36, -0.70%) shares down 3.6% on the Swiss SIX Exchange after it reported a 2% rise in first-quarter net profit to 2.06 billion Swiss francs -- hitting but not beating expectations, unlike U.S. rivals.

However, shares of Swiss food producer Nestle (CH:NESN 53.30, +1.30, +2.50%) climbed 1.8% as the firm's first-quarter sales rose to 26.3 billion Swiss francs ($24.6 billion), from 25.2 billion Swiss francs last year, and it stuck to its 2010 outlook.

Organic sales growth was a stronger-than-forecast 6.5% during the quarter, with volumes improving 4.8%.

Rival Unilever (UK:ULVR 1,982, +42.00, +2.16%) (UL 30.06, +0.32, +1.08%) added 1.5% on the London Stock Exchange. (marketwatch.com)

India story : SEBI vs IRDA

SEBI has earlier last month admitted that it is prudent for IRDA to manage the insurance comanyies even for ULIPs as they are not investment products per se. But it came down hard on 14 companies that have begun these products wihout its approval, and we believe rightly so..Courts haivng instructed SEBI that ists assertions on control over ULIP as its auth has been further followed by IRDA's express disregard of SEBI instructions (Moneycontrol below)

In what is now brewing as a battle of authority between the country's two big regulators, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has asked insurance companies to disregard the order from the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) which asked insurance companies to stop selling ULIPs (unit linked insurance policies). IRDA invoked its power under section 34(1) of the Insurance Act and asked insurance companies to continue business as usual.

"The SEBI order would disrupt orderly function and will adversely impact policyholders' interest," IRDA said adding, "It may lead to forced premature policy surrender. The industry will be at a standstill and this is not in public interest."

It may be recalled that on Friday, the SEBI stunned the insurance sector by ordering 14 insurance companies against selling any more ULIPs.

Here is the Reuters report

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has barred 14 life insurance companies in India from issuing unit-linked insurance products (ULIPs) with immediate effect, according to a notice posted on its website.

Such products, which work in a similar way as mutual funds, should not be launched nor should money be raised from investors by way of new or additional subscription, till companies obtain the certificate of registration from SEBI, it said in its order on Friday.

"ULIPs offered by the said entities are a combination of investment and insurance and, therefore, the investment components are in the nature of mutual funds which can only be offered/launched after obtaining registration from SEBI …," the order said.

The regulator had issued notices to these firms in January and December seeking explanation as to why ULIPs were launched without its approval and why appropriate action should not be taken against them.

Such products, introduced in 2001, have been favoured by investors in the last few years because of the market linked returns they offer.

Chain Store Age: Speciality Stores

Gap, Aeropostale and Limited Brands were among the specialty retailers that beat Wall Street expectations in March as an early Easter and warm weather boosted spending.

Gap said Thursday its March same-store sales increased by 11%. Wall Street analysts expected an increase of 3.7%, according to a survey. The company reported increases across all its banners: Gap’s namesake division had an 11% increase; at Banana Republic North America, sales were up 10%; and Old Navy North America posted a 13% gain.

Total sales for the five weeks ended April 3 rose to $1.45 billion, from $1.29 billion, in the year-ago period.

Aeropostale reported a 19% jump in March, beating analysts' expectations of 11.2% growth. Total sales for the fiscal month grew 25% to $200.1 million. The company said the results, which prompted it to raise its earnings guidance for the first quarter reflected its strong spring line, improved margins, inventory control and an earlier Easter holiday this year.

Limited Brands’ same-store sales grew 15% in March, easily beating Wall Street's expectations. Total sales for the five weeks ended April 3 climbed 16% to $746.9 million, from $646.2 million.

In other March same-store sales results:

Abercrombie & Fitch Co.'s sales rose 5%, but the teen clothing company's performance missed Wall Street's expectations of an 8.4% increase. The company's namesake brand posted a 10% increase, while abercrombie kids reported a 12% rise. Hollister's figure dipped 1% for the month.
The retailer reported that year-to-date same-store sales grew 5%, while total sales rose 18% to $473.4 million. International sales more than doubled to $79.1 million, while direct-to-consumer merchandise sales climbed 38% to $45.6 million.

American Eagle Outfitters’ sales rose 15%, ahead of the forecast of 10.8%.
The Buckle said its sales rose 7.2% in March, better than analysts had expected.
Wet Seal’s sales climbed 6.3% last month, helped by solid results from its Arden B and namesake stores.
The Cato Corp. said sales rose 24%. The company raised its first-quarter profit forecast as a result.

WSJ Post : Retail / Luxury Sales (Post Easter Weekend) report for information redistribution.

Shoppers opened their wallets even wider than expected in March, snapping up spring fashions and home furnishings and paying full price for much of what they bought, retailers reported Thursday.


Stifel Nicolaus & Co. Analyst Richard Jaffe speaks to MarketWatch's Andria Cheng about retailers' better-than-expected March retail sales.

Analysts had expected that warm weather and an early Easter would boost results compared with last year, when recession-scarred consumers were willing to buy only basics, and only on sale.

But the results were even better than they had forecast, and hit double-digits at some chains, including midlevel department store Kohl's Corp., where sales at stores open at least a year jumped 22.5%.

Luxury retailers, which were particularly hard-hit by the recession, also reported strong sales; the high-end department store Nordstrom Inc. led the pack with a 16.8% increase in sales.

WSJ Professional

Retailers Face New Challenges
More

Sortable Chart: How retailers fared
Saks Inc. reported a 12.7% same-stores sales gain in March. Sales at Neiman Marcus Inc.'s namesake stores and Bergdorf Goodman rose 9.2%, with top-selling merchandise including women's clothing and shoes, handbags and jewelry.

But while retailers say they are heartened by shoppers' more upbeat mood, they remain somewhat cautious in the face of high unemployment.

"We are celebrating strength of the first quarter, but we are not taking anything for granted," said Gregg Steinhafel, chief executive of the discounter Target Corp. "I think the rest of the year's sales will have ups and downs, but the general trend line will be up."

Target's sales jumped 10.3% in March, with sales of clothing rising by an even larger percentage, evidence that shoppers are no longer buying just low-margin basic goods. In fact, the company reported strong sales of its flowery new Liberty of London line of clothes, pillows and other household goods.

Last year, Target, which sells a lot of discretionary merchandise rather than must-buy staples, saw its March sales tumble 6.6%.

Citing strong spring results this year, the company said it expects its earnings per share to come in 10 cents higher than the 74 cents a share analysts have been predicting for the quarter ending May 2. Several other retailers also increased their earnings estimates.

On average, same-store sales jumped 8.7% for the month, according to an index of 29 retailers tracked by Retail Metrics Inc. of Swampscott, Mass. Analysts had expected a 6.1% increase in the index, which doesn't include the nation's largest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

"It's a blow-out month, the biggest monthly increase we've seen since we began tracking monthly retail sales in 2000," said Ken Perkins, president of Retail Metrics.

Consumers are "beginning to feel better about their plight, evidenced by their spending on more discretionary items like apparel, accessories and home furnishings," he said.

After Macy's Inc. reported a 10.8% gain for March, its fourth consecutive increase, Chief Executive Terry Lundgren said, "We feel good about the trend and current performance."

Still, he noted that the economy remains fundamentally weak and retailers are still a way off from fueling their business by adding workers and investing capital.


Experts say this cautious attitude makes sense. "With unemployment numbers still high, consumers paying off debt and what uncertain Washington policies like health care will mean for disposable income, there will still be bumps in the road," said Madison Riley, managing director of North America for retail consultancy Kurt Salmon Associates.

Indeed, mall shoppers still express wariness about spending. In Dallas, Shannon Thomas, owner of a local funeral home, stopped by NorthPark Center last weekend to buy a pair of jeans at the Gap. "When I shop now, I buy exactly what I need and then head home," she said.

View Full Image

Getty Images
Guests at the New York debut of Liberty of London for Target pop-up store.

Related

Wal-Mart Bets on Price Cuts

Some analysts said they will need to see relatively strong sales in April as well before they are convinced that consumers are truly more optimistic—and that the March results were not mostly due to the early arrival of Easter on April 4.

Discounters that posted relatively strong results last year, before the recession showed signs of easing, continued to do well this March.

TJX Companies Inc., which owns T.J. Maxx and HomeGoods stores, notched a 12% same-stores sales gain on top of a 2% rise in the year-ago period. It raised its first-quarter earnings guidance to between 76 cents and 79 cents a share from 60 cents and 65 cents

WSJ Reports optimism as luxury outsells 2009 by 23%

Retailer trust was shown in rise in Wholesale inventories numbers..

The AP report is also quoted by WSJ in "Shoppers open wallet in March"

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Retailers Thursday reported strong year-over-year gains in sales at stores opened more than a year as indications continue to grow that consumers are spending again.

In addition to improved consumer confidence, retailers also benefited from easy year-ago comparisons, increased Easter shopping and warmer weather.

"Retailers are smashing expectations," Thomson Reuters analyst Jharonne Martis said.

With just under half having reported, all but one have beat Wall Street projections, with Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST), Limited Inc. (LTD), Hot Topic (HOTT) and Cato Corp. (CATO) reporting better-than-expected results.

The only disappointment so far is apparel retailer Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (ANF), which posted a 5% increase in same-store sales when Wall Street expected 6.6% growth. Abercrombie shares slipped 3.2% premarket to $46.

Same-store sales, a key retail metric, count only sales at stores open at least a year. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) doesn't disclose monthly sales figures.

The strong sales growth--in a month in which many retailers unveil spring merchandise at full price--suggests consumers are feeling more confident about paying a higher price, a potential boost to retailers' first-quarter margins.

"Consumers have been in a restrained spending mode for several months, but improved consumer confidence is prompting shoppers to loosen the purse strings after two years," Martis has said.

All of which could lead to a strong beginning to 2010 for retailers.

"Underlying sales trends look strong, and we believe retailers are setting up for a very good first quarter," said Daniel Binder, retail analyst at Jefferies.

Teen apparel, always a good indicator of discretionary spending, showed particular strength in March as Zumiez Inc. (ZUMZ) and Hot Topic reported better-than-expected results.

Ironically, Hot Topic so far has reported the worst same-store sales result, down 7.5%, but its shares are rising the most, up 18% premarket to $8.32, because the decline was narrower than the expected 11.2% drop and the company announced a special one-time cash dividend of $1.

Women's apparel and accessories retailer Cato raised first-quarter earnings guidance, the first in what may be a number of retailers to do so as more reports come in.

Retailers were setting up for something big, with several indicators suggesting improvement after the industry struggled last year under the weight of the economic downturn.

The retail industry added 14,900 jobs in March, its third straight month of expansion after shedding over one million positions since the recession began in December 2007.

Import cargo volume at the nation's major retail container ports is expected to rise 8% in April compared with a year ago, and solid increases are expected to continue through the summer as the US economy improves, the National Retail Federation said.

"Retail sales are starting to improve, and retailers are importing merchandise in the quantities they need to meet that demand," said NRF spokesman Jonathan Gold.

Even the highest end is seeing encouraging signs. Predictions "of the demise of luxury and full priced spending were exaggerated," Tiffany & Co (TIF) Chief Executive Michael Kowalski said when the company posted improved fourth-quarter results in late March. "Many customers were simply waiting for some improvements in their personal incomes and balance sheets prior to resuming spending."

It is not likely to be a completely smooth path for retailers because consumers are still watchful of their wallets. The latest indication came Wednesday with word that Americans put their credit cards back into the drawer in February, an indication they aren't ready to spend briskly despite the economy's improvement. Consumer credit fell $11.5 billion in February, the Federal Reserve said.

Retail stocks have been ahead of the industry's improved sales figures, with many shares trading at multi-year highs coming into this week after the group bottomed in March 2009. Big advances from here may be more hard fought because of the extended run-up and the stocks now pricing in improving conditions, analysts say.


-By Karen Talley, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2196; karen.talley@dowjones.com

Better weather and an earlier Easter enticed Americans to shell out for spring clothes in March, the fourth straight month of gains for retail sales. Reports from Target Corp., Macy's Inc., Gap Inc., and Limited Inc., the parent of Victoria's Secret, all beat Wall Street expectations.
The improvement spanned discounters, mass merchants, specialty stores, and luxury retailers and offered evidence of improved consumer confidence.
The earlier holiday combined with comparisons to weak sales in March, 2009, had analysts expecting solid improvements.
Target, Saks Inc., and Nordstrom Inc. said spring clothes sold well, particularly shoes and women's clothing. Overall, sales in stores open at least a year, known as same-store sales, rose 9 percent in March, based on an index of 31 retailers compiled by the International Council of Shopping Centers. Same-store sales are the standard industry measurement of sales changes.
John Long, retail strategist at Kurt Salmon Associates, said the gains were partly driven by pent-up demand from shoppers tired of cutting back. "Moms are beginning to shop for themselves, after shopping in their closets the last two years," he said.
The gain from the same month the previous year was the biggest since March, 1999, said Mike Niemira, chief economist of the shopper centers group. He said Easter probably accounted for about half of the increase, and added that figures from this month will provide a more complete picture of consumer spending.
Among individual retailers, top performers included Target, where sales rose more than 10 percent, partly because clothing was selling well. TJX Cos., which owns T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, and other discount stores, said sales climbed 12 percent in March, leading the company to raise its earning expectations for the quarter and the year.

Department stores, particularly hard hit during the recession, showed strong gains, with Macy's and Kohl's Department Stores Inc. both reporting double-digit increases of at least 10 percent. Nordstrom reported a 16.8 percent gain, and Saks posted a 12.7 percent rise, both beating analyst predictions.

Strides Arcolabs gets into double digits | Indian generics producers step up

Pharmaceutical company Strides Arcolab Ltd is securing inorganic growth for its speciality division, adding nearly 50% to current revenue, by acquiring a Brazilian facility that makes sterile injectables. South Africa’s Aspen Group is selling its Campos plant, which makes penems and penicillins, along with the products and related intellectual property (IP) to Strides. Aspen is also proposing to buy the residual 49% held by Strides in their Latin American joint venture. The facility is being acquired for $75 million (around Rs344 crore), representing its book value, said Strides’ group chief financial officer T.S. Rangan. The incremental consideration payable for the products, IP and product supply contracts will be adjusted against the consideration receivable by Strides for the stake sale.
Strides’ specialty division’s revenue rose 27% to Rs374 crore in calendar 2009, over the previous year. It is the company’s smallest division, accounting for 27% of sales, but contributing 44% of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda). The Brazilian facility will add around $40 million in revenue. Its profitability has not been disclosed, but Strides has said that it does not expect margins to get affected by the deal. Strides will have to work hard for that to happen, as Aspen’s reason for selling this facility is its underperformance. Strides says profitability will improve due to synergies with its existing operations and technical capabilities.

Electronic Health Records, anyone

Obama Administration has more to fight for after the / if the Health Insurance discussion gets thru the first few gates. the EHR market is hot with tech biggies IBM and Microsoft making plays. IBM has quite a sane portfolio now, if it can make it work. including Filenet, Daksh and even SPSS, Informix Databases and the slow elephant Rational. Its W3 content suite worked pretty sell internally and should find a few takers, legacy email biz with Lotus mail continues as well.

PWC and Informix were the two $1b + acquisitions, Monday going for $3.5b in that age of the busted up net

Microsoft is said to be buying Sentellient, IBM has piked up Initiate tthis year. Its mortgage platform in Charlotte bought from the Bank of America is unlikely to surive the holocaust, like many other legacy products before strapped by their over customised workflow.

IBM said Wednesday that it has agreed to buy Initiate Systems, a privately held company that makes software designed to help health care companies manage and share information.
(Credit: Initiate Systems)
Initiate's software is geared toward customers in both the private sector and government, all of whom deal with a huge amount of health care information across different systems. Initiate's Interoperable Health software tries to help health care companies and government agencies more quickly find and share patient and clinical data, thereby saving them time and money.

Mead Johnson

BMY sold sales for a one time gain of $8 billion in Q4 2009 (NYTIMES>DEALBOOK)

Bristol-Myers Squibb is splitting off its holdings in the infant-formula maker Mead Johnson Nutrition in order to focus on its biopharmaceutical business.

Bristol-Myers, which is based in New York and owns about 83 percent of Mead’s stock, expects the deal to add to earnings starting in 2010, The Associated Press reported.

The company says the stock swap is designed to allow Bristol-Myers shareholders to exchange some, all or none of their shares for Mead stock tax-free and at a discount. For each $1 of Bristol-Myers stock swapped, shareholders will get about $1.11 worth of Mead shares.

Bristol-Myers in 2008 decided to spin off Mead Johnson to focus on buying biotech drugs and shift its efforts into biopharmaceuticals. Mead, which is based in Illinois and makes children’s liquid and powder formulas under the Enfamil, EnfaKid and Choco Milk brands, went public in February, raising $680 million after expenses.

”Now is the right time to move forward with a split-off given the excellent performance of Mead Johnson since the I.P.O. earlier this year and our confidence in the current and future performance of our biopharmaceuticals business,” Bristol-Myers’s chairman and chief executive, James M. Cornelius, said in a statement Sunday. ”With a successful execution of this split-off, we fully consider ourselves a BioPharma company.”

Bristol-Myers owns 170 million shares of Mead Johnson Class A and Class B common stock. Based on the $45.25 closing price of Mead shares on Friday, the value of the shares being split off would total $7.69 billion.

The exchange ratio will represent a 10 percent discount to the daily volume-weighted average price of the companies’ shares over a three-day period, expected to be Dec. 8 to 10. The deal is subject to at least 144.5 million Mead shares being distributed in exchange for Bristol-Myers stock, among other conditions.

The exchange offer will expire Dec. 14. Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley will serve as the dealer managers for the exchange offer.

Bristol Myer Squibb

BMY caught a fast train on selling Mead


forecast from Marketwatch

Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY 24.60, +0.30, +1.24%) early Thursday posted a massive fourth-quarter profit, its bottom-line boosted by the recent spin-out of its Mead Johnson Nutrition Co. unit. The drugmaker reported net income of $8 billion, or $4.06 a share, compared with $1 billion, or 63 cents a share, for the 2008 quarter. The 2009 quarter contained a $3.62 a share gain related to the Mead spin-out. Earnings per share from continuing operations were 41 cents vs. 56 cents, while adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations were 47 cents vs. 40 cents. Sales rose to $5.03 billion from $4.54 billion. A poll of analysts by Thomson Reuters pegged the drugmaker at posting earnings per share of 41 cents. Bristol-Myers added that it now sees 2010 earnings per share from continuing operations coming in between $1.94 and $2.04 a share, with adjusted earnings of $2.15 to $2.25 a share.

J&J gets hurt

From the article in NY Times which informed me, and from J&J's great efforts in ethics leadership one gets a little idea of how Brands are maintained. A model for Brand crisis Management since its own brands were recalled in 1982, J&J repeated its mistakes and ended up recalling a host of meds for its (OTC) Consumer healthcare unit.

On Friday, McNeil Consumer Healthcare, a division of Johnson & Johnson, announced the recall of several hundred batches of popular over-the-counter medicines, including Benadryl, Motrin, Rolaids, Simply Sleep, St. Joseph Aspirin and Tylenol.

According to a federal inspection report, the response was anything but swift. The recall came 20 months after McNeil first began receiving consumer complaints about moldy-smelling bottles of Tylenol Arthritis Relief caplets, according to a warning letter sent by the Food and Drug Administration to the company on Friday. Since then, a few people have also reported temporary digestive problems like nausea, vomiting and stomach pain, the agency said.

via J&J misstep


notes: The heiress died earlier in late 2009/early 2010 after her lesbian marriage a couple of years back.
The recall took 20 months after the first moldy bottles were reported

Pharma 2010 forecasts

Eli Lily put on an optimistic face as it came in with a forecast of $4.65 to $4.85 on the morning ticker against some $4.75 estimates of Thomson Reuters ave, analysts)

Wall street imagines Eli Lily falling off a cliff for patent expiries of Zyprexa and Cymbalta tackled also in earlier post of Q3 results)

Wall Street is intently focused on the "patent cliff" years 2011-14, when Lilly faces generic competition for schizophrenia drug Zyprexa, antidepressant Cymbalta, cancer drug Gemzar and osteoporosis treatment Evista. The company did not provide any commentary on the likely profit landscape during that period and beyond.

Eli Lily also ruled out the chances of a big merger, Pharma mergers especially are part of an SEC inquiry in 2010 (at Meowww Blue's blog)

Sara Lee deals get renewed focus at Nestle mixed bag - Unilever and P&G

Though we strive to avoid providing only results, this one was a little important. With the new perfect storm reaching the bottled water 'shores', Nestle reported 3% lower sales incl Q3 for 9mths 2009 at $79 billion further aided by a 6% weakness in the Euro over the Swiss Franc. Europe accounts for 45% of Nestle's F&B sales.

With Kraft ( KFT ) failing to pick up Cadbury (CBRY) and P&G not growing much, Nestle (NSRGY) might still consider itself a direct competitor of Unilever. Competition also comes from private label brands in Europe and the recession particularly in UK and Spain ( Bloomberg.com)

Unilever in the meantime, started with acquisitions again offering $1.19 billion for Sara Lee Europe ( Personal Care and Detergents) head on head with P&G rather than its F&B business
Unilever get 51% of its sales from developing markets focussing now on Russia. It continues to claim next 1 billion consumers from developing markets, with India, China and Thailand still growing.

P&G is also in the race to buy Sara Lee, but wants only Ambi-Pur while Sara Lee wants to just focus on Coffee and Food against Nestle. Ambi Pur itself would be worth $700 million, accounting for 400 million out of the $2 billion sales in the Household and body care segment

Preferred buyers may include old Sara Lee partners from India

For P&G the new FY has begun and results come out next week . will be updated here

Q1 and Q2 2009 came 10% lower in the last 2 quarters at $18b against $20-$21 billion in Q3 and Q4 of CY2008 with a PAT margin of 13% and OPM of 19%. The Unilever deal for Sara Lee has already been signed.

Pharma Majors well on way to a bull run

Novartis boosted earnings to $2.1 billion Oct 22 morning, lower than estimates on sales of $11.09 billion

As patents for Diovan and Gleevec ( HT) run out in 2012, sales from new introductions increased to 18% of overall sales as compared to 11% a year earlier. These include Reclast for brittle bones, Lucentis for eye disease and Exforge for high BP

While reading these optimistic results one must also note that:

1. Funds for emerging Markets R&D are being cut drastically

2. Funds are being cut for various vaccination projects'

The above two implying that cost pressures continue..

J&J was the first to announce Q3 sales of $15.1 billion with an EPS of $1.20 against analyst estimates of $1.17

Marketwatch.com: PFE posts 26% y-o-y increase in PAT and raises full year target to $50 billion including Wyeth ( New EPS of $1.50)

Pfizer Inc.(PFE 18.32, +0.34, +1.89%) reported higher third-quarter earnings early Tuesday on lower sales. The world's largest drugmaker posted net income of $2.88 billion, or 43 cents a share, compared with $2.28 billion, or 34 cents a share, for the same period in 2008. Revenue slipped 3% to $11.62 billion, down from $11.97 billion. Excluding various items, Pfizer would have reported adjusted earnings of 51 cents a share versus 62 cents. A poll of analysts by FactSet Research forecasted earnings per share of 48 cents, on revenue of $11.44 billion. Pfizer also issued a new earnings forecast to reflect its recent acquisition of rival Wyeth. Pfizer now sees 2009 revenues of $49 billion to $50 billion, up from its previous forecast of $45 billion to $46 billion. Earnings per share are seen coming in between $1.45 and $1.50, up from its previous estimate of $1.30 to $1.45. Pfizer closed on its takeover of Wyeth on Oct. 15.

Marketwatch.com: Novartis (NVS) The Basel health-care giant, reported clinical-trial progress with two drugs. Tasigna, in testing as a first-line treatment for chronic myeloid leukemia, met its primary endpoint in a head-to-head comparison with Novartis's own Glivec. In a Phase III clinical trial, Tasigna, generically nilotinib, "produced faster and deeper responses than Glivec when given as first-line therapy" and was well tolerated, Novartis said in a statement on Tuesday. And Novartis said that in Phase II testing, the biological therapy ACZ885, generically canakinumab, showed itself "significantly more effective than an injectable corticosteroid at reducing pain and preventing recurrent attacks or flares in patients with hard-to-treat gout, one of the most painful forms of arthritis."

In India Novartis makes a profit of around Rs 100 crores a year running a small shop. Only 6% of its overall sales in the first 6 months cam from emerging markets and 66% from established markets ( 42% Europe and 32% US) Novartis had shown strong Q4 2008 results from Cancer and BP drugs and maintained stability in Q1 and Q2 despite no sales of its pandemic influenza drug. Its growth is still high in the Emerging markets in Constant currency terms but on a small base. Its sales in pharma constitute 68% of the business, Sandoz and Consumer health another 28% while Vaccination and Diagnosis made $494 million in the first half. Analysts expect Novartis to announce an above $1 EPS for the Quarter in two days.

Noartis has recently made a payment of $75 m to its development partner Human Genome ( HGSI) for Albuferon after completing Phase III testing. NVS will likely report sales of above $20-21 billion for the quarter.

The entire industry has suffered from declining sales because of the stronger dollar during the first six months of 2009

Earlier last week Baxter of the US dropped heavily after its earnings report

Also from Marketwatch.com

Abbott Laboratories reported a 37% spike in third-quarter profit, its performance fueled by strong sales of its rheumatoid arthritis drug Humira and nutritional products. See full story.

The health-care-products conglomerate posted net income of $1.48 billion, or 95 cents a share, compared with $1.09 billion, or 69 cents a share, for the same quarter in 2008. Sales rose 3.5% to $7.76 billion from $7.5 billion.

Abbott's solid performance prompted the company to raise its 2009 earnings forecast. The conglomerate now sees adjusted earnings coming in between $3.70 and $3.72 a share, up from its previous range of $3.65 to $3.70. A FactSet poll had Abbott posting 2009 earnings of $3.69 a share, on average.

Shares of Sanofi-Aventis (SNY 39.11, -0.36, -0.91%) were also up 2% to $39.72.

The French drugmaker said that studies show children under age 10 will need two doses of its U.S.-licensed vaccine for the H1N1, or swine flu, virus in order to be adequately protected. Older children and adults have responded well to just one dose.

Also, Sanofi has reported 30% efficacy when its Aids vaccine was combined with another AIDS vaccine from Vaxgen in September. As research is incomplete, this is not the end of the long road for the Aids affected

Mid Tier: LLY

Eli Lily turned around with GAAP EPS of 86 cents and pnon proforma EPS of $1.20. Charges of anti-psychotic Zyprexa came down to 0.07 cents from $1.33 last year and added restructuring costs of sale of the indiana plant $430-5 million Higher sales from anti-cancer drug Alimta and anti-depressant Cymbalta helped sales to above $5 billion , also for the remaining quarter guidance

Retail supermarkets get regulated

Funny why stores / store franchisees do not choose / get selected for each location based on simple geocoding of available competition and complimentary businesses? Hospitality ould never have done well in the entire United states if the simple principles had not been applied - Ramada inn, how far from gas stations, public attractions and how far from other Ramadas, other competition in 3 stars, in 5 stars.. all required to approve a new Ramada or renew any inn property's licenses/approvals.

Ft.com extract:

Competition watchdog proposes curbs on spread of 'Tesco towns'

By Andrea Felsted and Jim Pickard

Published: October 3 2009 03:00 | Last updated: October 3 2009 03:00

Tough curbs to rein in the spread of so-called "Tesco towns" were proposed by competition authorities yesterday, in spite of vehement objections from Britain's biggest retailer.

The Competition Commission recommended that the government introduce a test for planning permission decisions that would seek to curtail the dominance of any one supermarket in towns, improving choice for consumers.

The test - a key recommendation of the commission's two-year probe into the supermarket sector - would oblige local authorities to consider the relative local strength of retailers when deciding whether to grant planning permission for new, larger grocery stores or larger extensions.

The commission said the test would "bring in competition where it is lacking and . . . stop individual retailers consolidating strong positions in local areas to the detriment of consumers".

Analysts said that while the test would apply to all supermarket groups, Tesco, as market leader, had the most to lose.

Tesco said the commission had made the "wrong recommendation in this small but important aspect of its extensive inquiry".

Lucy Neville-Rolfe, Tesco's corporate and legal affairs director, called on the government to "think very carefully before proceeding with this recommendation and intervening aggressively in what is acknowledged to be a highly competitive industry, and deterring investment in these difficult economic times".

Asda, the UK's second-biggest supermarket chain, which stands to be a beneficiary of the test, welcomed it as a "modest proposal". It added: "Anyone opposing [it] is in effect opposing more competition."

The Association of Convenience Stores called on the government to implement the test, but warned it was "not a panacea for the competition failings".

However, analysts said that, with a general election looming, the test was unlikely to be implemented any time soon.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said it would "consider carefully what a new competition test in the planning system for the largest grocery stores would mean for business, local authorities, consumers and communities, in conjunction with other recent planning policy developments".

Squeezing the girdle, Page 15

Insurance Market update - LIc up 83%, Pvt Sector down 15% in 5 months

The below update from ET to be used to update Insurance sector analysis

SBI Life, promoted by the country's largest lender State Bank of India, earned first year premium worth Rs 1,704 crore in April-August period while ICICI Prudential collected Rs 1,725 crore in the same period, according to the IRDA data.

The ICICI Prudential's gain is mainly from the large premium the insurance firm managed to mop up in August. The company new business during the month stood at Rs 525 against SBI Life's Rs 306 crore.

SBI Life had taken over ICICI Prudential to become the largest private insurer in the first two months of FY'10.

However, when compared to last year, ICICI Prudential's premium dipped by about 40 per cent. In the first five months of FY'09 its premium stood at Rs 2,818 crore.

SBI Life also saw its premium declining to Rs 1,703 crore in the first five months of this fiscal, compared to Rs 1,763 crore raised in the same period last fiscal.

Overall, the private life insurers registered a negative growth of about 15 per cent during April-August of the current fiscal. The 21 private life insurers managed to raise Rs 10,227 crore in the first five months of FY'10 against Rs 12,089 crore during the same period last year.

However, the life industry grew by 17 per cent in April -August of the current fiscal, with the life insurance companies' premium rising to Rs 31,039 crore against Rs 26,449 crore during the same period last year.

This was mainly due to the 45 per cent growth in new business registered by the country's largest insurer Life Insurance Corporation.

LIC's market share rose to 67 per cent in new business in the first five months of current fiscal from 54 per cent share during the corresponding period last year.

It mopped up Rs 20,810 crore during April-August period of the current fiscal, compared with Rs 14,359 crore during the same period last year.

In August, the premium collection of the life insurance industry grew by around 44 per cent to Rs 9,044.18 crore against Rs 6,273.57 crore in the same period last year.

The private life insurance segment, however, witnessed a negative growth of around 8 per cent, while the LIC registered a whopping growth rate of 83 per cent in premium collection in August.

Commenting on the August figures, Reliance Life Insurance President Malay Ghosh said, "The new business numbers are showing growing trend each month which is a positive sign. We are sure that the private sector will be back on the growth path by the second half of the financial year."

Wyeth added $1.3 billion to its bottomline in the second quarter, a windfall for its acquirer Pfizer in a complex deal valuing Wyeth $47 per share including a mix of cash, swap and some other for later analysis

Also, new drugs include PCVs ( see http://healthpost-z.blogspot.com ) from Glaxo and Pfizer and the new COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder) drug QAB149 from Novartis will each see a billion plus dollars in annual sales going forward

QAB 149 showed 20% improvement in medication free relief days over Spiriva from Pfizer

Novartis is riding on the sales of Galvus and Tekturna. Januvia from Merck introduced as vildagliptiin ( Galvus) substitute?

GSK has thence signed a contract with Brazil govt to tend to 13m children every year for $2.2 billion, pricing doses for Brazil at $11.5 in year 1 to $5 in the final years looking for volume in emerging markets against its price of $25 in European markets.

At the same time, drug sales are also growing quickly in China, reaching $33.9 billion in 2007, up 25.6 percent from 2006, according to Business Monitor International data cited in the Sinopharm prospectus. Sinophrarm listed its $1.13 billion offering on Sept 23 in HKG (China State constrn Engg was the largest IPO at $7.3 billion)

The challenges / silver bullets bitten

Novartis

Diovan will get competition from generics once Cozaar from Merck loses patent in 2010 and currently sells $5.7 b worldwide

New drug Valturna is only a rehash of Diovan and Tekturna for High BP

Pfizer

Paid $2.3 billion in fines for illegal drug promotions ( golf weekends, junkets for Doctors) - fourth settlement in 10 years

Still second largest in India after buying Wyeth

GSK

Advair ( competing with QAB149) for COPD is losing patent protection in 2011

EMERGING MARKETS: BRAZIL

GlaxoSmithKline has sealed an innovative €1.5bn (£1.38bn) contract with Brazil guaranteeing sales of its pneumococcal vaccine, designed to prevent pneumonia and meningitis, over the entire life of the product.

The deal marks a watershed in negotiation of a long-term contract in a way that provides GSK with an agreed price and volume, starting at €11.50 a dose and falling to €5 in future years.

Most drugs and vaccines are sold over far shorter periods and subject to uncertainties over arbitrary price reductions, as well as the threat of competition from rival low-cost generic alternatives.

The deal comes as GSK continues to expand in emerging markets and is diversifying away from drugs into vaccines and other products.

The company agreed to supply enough doses of Synflorix to vaccinate the 13m children requiring coverage each year for at least eight years, underpinned by a technology transfer agreement that will eventually allow Brazil to manufacture the vaccine itself.

Brazil's health minister and Andrew Witty, GSK's chief executive, unveiled the deal in London on Friday to strengthen Brazil's pharmaceutical research and development capacity, including a €17m joint project to develop a Dengue vaccine.

No Window Dressing, meeting the populace

Attended four hours as a volunterr in North Bangalore, to figure out how to involve my endeavour in community causes..